So, I've finally amassed enough recorded material to start thinking about releasing my first EP. My original plan was to do a couple of them, recorded at home, and use the profits to fund a full-blown album, ideally professionally recorded in a studio with people who have a clue.

Now, I'm thinking that unless my music somehow explodes overnight, that such an endeavor may not work without additional funding, and since I'm too broke to shell out-of-pocket on what is essentially a very expensive hobby, I have been pondering things like Kickstarter. Obviously, I'd offer incentives such as extra merch, 'proper' CDs (signed copies), and so forth to investors.

Has anyone else gone this route, or at least evaluated it as an avenue of getting your music produced? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

One of my bands did it, we asked for $5000, only raised $2000 and received nothing as a result. Proceeded to take pledged money through other private means and gave goodies to the pledges at the EP launch.

I guess the lesson is to set realistic goals. If you're currently not known to the public, you aren't going to get any cash. If there's no demand, no need for a supply.

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One of my bands did it, we asked for $5000, only raised $2000 and received nothing as a result. Proceeded to take pledged money through other private means and gave goodies to the pledges at the EP launch.

I guess the lesson is to set realistic goals. If you're currently not known to the public, you aren't going to get any cash. If there's no demand, no need for a supply.

Did your band have any music already available for prospective pledges to listen to ahead of time? I was thinking of approaching it from a "here's what the music sounds like, donate for a proper version" kind of thing.

My band did a similar thing w/ Indiegogo. The only working difference, as far as I know, is that Indiegogo pays out your money even if you don't hit your goal - though they do take a higher x% of your total if you don't hit your goal.

Anyway, our goal was $4,000, and we raised about $1,600 + a bit more from private donations. We had all kinds of incentives (free CD's, Free posters, free shirts, free stickers, name in the EP sleeve...).

In retrospective, I don't think it was a great idea. I know some people will disagree with me, but I've honestly come to think more and more than Kickstarter/IndieGoGo are sort of creating a group of entitlements musicians who want everyone else to pay for their shit. If you use the Kickstarter solely as a presale type function for a CD - that's a different thing altogether. That's something you'd know would work/wouldn't right off the bat, because realistically think about how many people would want to preorder your CD.

Don't get me wrong. We're all poor, and producing a good product can be extremely expensive. However, it does come off as slightly desperate, and in the future I would probably pinch more pennies in the recording process.

For my band's EP we booked 5 days for tracking, 5 for mixing. IF we were to do that again, I'd book 1 day just for drums, and record all the guitar, bass, and vocals on my own. Drums are really the only thing that you can't get a good product with in an imperfect recording environment. Everything else...is beyond doable on your own if you take the time, and have the right equipment.